


There Once Was a Time

by Bonfoi



Series: Snupin Santa Works [3]
Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Time Travel, Community: lupin_snape, F/M, Founders' Era, Founders' Fic, Gen, HP: EWE, M/M, Mystery, No HBP, No Half-blood Prince, Post Second Voldemort War, Pre-Slash, Romance, Sex Magic, Slash, Snupin Santa Fest, wanking
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-01-25
Updated: 2014-03-24
Packaged: 2017-11-26 20:13:43
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 19,480
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/653994
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bonfoi/pseuds/Bonfoi
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The power released by the Battle of Hogwarts stirs up an old ghost. There's great magic and mayhem, a disappearance and revelations, and a change of heart, or two. Along the way, there's a bit of adventure and romance. And did I forget to mention, fairies?</p><hr/><p></p><div class="center">
  <p>Written for Snupin Santa 2012.</p>
</div><hr/>
            </blockquote>





	1. Just When You Thought You Could Rest...

**Author's Note:**

  * For [littleisle](https://archiveofourown.org/users/littleisle/gifts).



> **Challenge:** Lupin_Snape’s [Snupin Santa 2012 Exchange](http://asylums.insanejournal.com/lupin_snape/864124.html)  
>  **Warnings:** No Remus/Tonks per se; Wanking for a Cause  
>  **Beta:** To Badgerlady, my intrepid and wonderful beta, without whom I couldn't have done it, thank you! Any mistakes are mine and mine alone.  
>  **A/N:** Written for Littleisle, who set me a challenge. There was so much to choose from. But, I think I settled on something that will intrigue you. Many thanks to Snupin Santa and the elves for your encouragement and extension. This monster wouldn't be tamed right up until the end.

At war's end, when one is ready to slump into a chair and rest, a Dark Lord stirs up trouble.

* * *

§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§ 

**_Disclaimer:_** The world of Harry Potter, its characters and settings are the copyrighted works of J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., her publishing companies and affiliates. No profit was made from the writing of this story nor was any malice intended in any way, shape or form to the author or the actors/actresses who so brilliantly have brought them to life. 

This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.

§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§ 

"You've meddled in affairs beyond your ken for the last time, Albus Dumbledore!"

"Gellert, no! Don't take him, take me! He's done nothing—"

"Silence!" Everything stopped, from the scritching of wood beetles chewing their way through the beams to the wafting air of a ghostly passage, everything was deathly still. "You swore that you would let the cycle continue. It was to be the Dark's time to rise," an eerie voice hissed. Nothing stirred. "I let you kill—"

"I defeated you, my love. I never killed you. You turned your own magic upon yourself." Albus' voice was low and rough, the words seemingly pulled from him without his will. "And young Tom ended your life."

"Ha! Whatever the case, I demand retribution. You thwarted my plans, your machinations helped bring down yet another Dark Lord, again. You have disrupted the cycle of Dark and Light, Albus, _my love_ ," Gellert said, a sneer obvious in his tone. "Choose the sacrifice, Albus. I'll not leave until I have what I came for." He turned his back on Albus.

The warble of a bird broke the heavy silence and suddenly life was rushing around them. A flash of fire brightened the gloom of the space around the spirits of Albus and his former lover, illuminating the Headmaster's Office of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. A weary Severus Snape sat at the desk, his robes of office muddy and bloody and stiff with ichor. He glared at the young man barely standing on the other side of it. "Potter," he said through stiff lips, "just how did you know that Longbottom," he winced as he spat the name, "could draw the Sword of Gryffindor?" 

Harry Potter blinked stupidly at Severus. He'd just been in a battle, same as the other wizard, but _he'd_ died, so it was to be expected that once the adrenaline had bled away, Harry's mind was on things other than battle, like say, sleep? "Ah, he's a Gryffindor...sir." 

Potter's swaying became more obvious and Severus stood up with a snarl, pushing himself up with both hands on the desktop. Suddenly, the perch that had been empty for so long exploded with light and song as Fawkes appeared in a blaze of glory. The two antagonists took a step back, reflexively reaching out toward the warmth of the phoenix. Fawkes trilled a sweet song and flew around the room, dropping a tear or two on Harry's head and Severus' shoulder, fiery wings brushing over both of them before he settled down to roost with soft, soothing, cooing murmurs.

If either of them had cared to truly observe, they would have seen the phoenix feather Fawkes hid in Severus' hair...and the shades tucked away in recesses of the office, a ghostly hand reaching out to tuck it in more securely.

oOo

The sconces and the chandelier in the Headmaster's office winked out. The sudden darkness startled Harry and Snape, a second or two ticking by before they both cried out "Lumos!"

The problem was, as Harry saw it, that Snape's wand was there, with a glowing ball of light on the tip...but the other wizard had vanished.

Fawkes sang out and began glowing from each feather tip. The additional light showed only that Severus Snape, Headmaster of Hogwarts, spy for the Order of the Phoenix, and general-git-with-a-heart-of-perhaps-gold, was nowhere in the room.

♦∞◊¤§¤◊∞♦ 

Severus stood blinking and swaying. He knew he wasn't in his office anymore, but the scene before him couldn't be possible...

Salazar Slytherin was kneeling in the mud at Godric Gryffindor's feet. His hands were on Gryffindor's thighs, his mouth occupied with making Gryffindor mewl and beg as he moved it up and down Gryffindor's cock. The sky showed the barest hint of peachy redness as Slytherin pulled away with a hoarse laugh and reached down by his knees for a bronze bowl to catch Gryffindor's emission.

"Well done, Lion-heart," Slytherin said in a ragged voice. "Your foundation stone will be blest with such largesse." He set the bowl and its precious contents down and held up a hand. Gryffindor pulled him up and into a chaste-seeming kiss, enveloping the smaller man.

"Blest by the mouth of Salazar Slytherin, it will be most assuredly vigorous, Sala," Gryffindor murmured as they broke their kiss. He stepped back carefully, avoiding the bowl, and let Slytherin bend over to pick it up. He stood silent as Slytherin stalked as well as he could through muck and mire toward a massive block of black stone, roughly formed into the shape of a cube. With a guttural shout, he threw the bowl filled with Gryffindor's jism into the air. A spell that made the hairs on Severus' head stand up and the bowl became a sieve and the ejaculate rained down over the foundation stone.

The black of the stone seemed to bleed away into the very earth and the familiar grey-and-white-speckled granite of Hogwarts sat there. Severus turned his head and saw two other blocks of the same granite beyond the small glen he was standing in.

"Shall we see if Rowena has interrupted the knight errant and Helga yet?" Slytherin asked abruptly.

Severus narrowed his eyes and stared at two of the Founders. _Hogwarts: A History_ never said anything about sex magick creating the foundations of the ancient castle. And that spell Slytherin had shouted out? That wasn't Parseltongue, nor was it Latinate.

Gryffindor finally deigned to do up his trews, tucking himself in carefully, his movements watched closely by Slytherin. Severus shivered at the dark lust on his House's founding father's visage.

"Come and break bread with me, my heart. Last night's delving into Rowena's mysteries after having had to blunt the edge of yours was most difficult." Gryffindor held out his hand. Slytherin slogged back through the mud to his side and suffered to have his hand placed upon Gryffindor's forearm with a sniff and a secretive smile.

"It was delicious to loosen the fair Rowena's hold upon logic, was it not, my shield-arm?" Slytherin leaned closer to Gryffindor, and Severus did as well. Slytherin's throaty whisper carried in the still morning air. "Shall we invite her again, my lover? If she is amenable, perhaps even for a child or two?"

Gryffindor's laugh boomed out, startled birds from their nests and Severus back on his heels. He spun Slytherin around and pressed him to his chest. "I would give anything to see your son or daughter, Sala." They kissed, this one no longer chaste nor closed-mouthed. Soon, they were too far away for Severus to hear, and now the birds and animals were setting off on their morning routines.

Severus shook his head and then his arm, shocked when his wand didn't slip down from his forearm holster and into his hand. He shook harder and then ran his other hand up and down his casting arm, realizing at the first touch that he no longer had a wand. "Merlin's tatty beard," he muttered, "I'm in the fucking past."

oOo

"Professor Snape!" Harry shouted. Fawkes flew around the room, a fierce cry echoing from every corner as the phoenix shone his light into every nook and cranny. "Professor Snape, where are you?"

Fifteen minutes went by and no sign of Snape. Harry wrenched the Headmaster's office door open and clattered down the twisting staircase until he was pushing at the back of the gargoyle statue. "Let me out, you blasted hunk of rock," he fumed. Harry pulled his wand and was about to hex the thing when—

The gargoyle spun away and Harry's wand was pressed into Remus Lupin's still bruised shoulder. "Ah, Harry, we won," he chided gently, his casting hand reaching up to push Harry's wand to the side. "What did Severus do now?" he asked with a tired smile.

"He's gone, Remus!" Harry shouted. Lupin winced and then slowly looked down into Harry's face. "Snape's gone!"

"What did you just say?"

"One minute we were talking, the next he was gone. I mean, I don't think it has anything to do with Fawkes showing up, but—

"Fawkes was there?" Remus interrupted. He grabbed Harry's left shoulder and shook the young man. "Fawkes—did he touch or brush by you or Severus? Did he sing for you? Cry on either one of you?" His face was pinched and white, the recent scars standing out.

Harry gulped. "Yeah, yeah. Fawkes petted me with his wing, like always and he even brushed up against Snape's head, not that I can see why, it's still greasy an—"

"That's _Professor Snape_ , Harry, and you've just told me that wherever Severus is, he's got a chance." Remus straightened up, his shoulders pushing back until he was as unlike himself as Harry had ever thought to see. "Take me back up, Harry, walk me through everything once more. You and I are going to solve this before anyone else can find out." Harry turned around and headed back up the stairs.

Remus hung back, and then pressed the tip of his wand to the stone gargoyle's ear. He whispered a spell and the stone guardian nodded ponderously. When Remus was on the stair and began to climb, the gargoyle was presenting its back to the space once more, protecting them from prying eyes.

Albus felt a small smile stretch his ghostly lips at the sight. "What in Morgana's hells are you smiling about, Albus?" Gellert asked sourly. The two spectres hung in the darkness, Albus' eyes gazing in the direction Remus and Harry had climbed.

"No matter how many times you try to derail it, goodness will find a way." Albus combed his fingers through his beard, dislodging several things covered in dripping ectoplasm. He casually flicked them away, through the walls of Hogwarts, right under Gellert's scrutiny. When there was no yelling, Albus allowed himself to smile more openly, infuriating Gellert even more.

♦∞◊¤§¤◊∞♦ 

Severus fumed, hidden in the underbrush. He scowled and kept an internal diatribe running as he stalked around the clearing.

"Youse is not proper," a voice sang out. Severus halted in mid-step, his lips pinching together.

"I's say, youse is not proper." An elf, not quite a house-elf, but not a _proper_ storybook elf either, stepped out a tree and in front of Severus. 

"Be ye mortal or magic, mon?" another voice queried. This one faded into sight from the very air. "I hight Robin Goodfellow, gentle being," the elf—this one just as Severus had imagined Shakespeare's Puck to look—youthful, spritely, winsome, charming, in fact, everything puckish—said as he bowed slightly.

"I am Severus Snape, a wizard." Severus straightened up and crossed his arms over his chest, looking down his prodigious nose at the elf of the air.

"A wizard, eh? Then where is your stick of power, oh beaky one?" Robin asked with a quizzical grin. "Ariel and I meself canna sense such a thing about your person."

Severus groaned. "You're figments of my imagination. That's got to be it!" He spun around and began marching back to the spot where he'd appeared. "I've been hit with a delayed hex and I'm going mad, that's the only explanation."

"Nay, wizard ye be, one of them displaced in time," Robin said suddenly. His face darkened and the clearing grew cloudy and grey. "There's a bit of us in ye, tho', which being as the Fae have powers the magical know not, I might be able to help ye." The elf looked at Severus with a suspicious twinkle in his eyes. "If ye care to assay an endeavour for me and mine, that is."

Severus circled the clearing and stopped before Robin and Ariel. "I should have known even a fevered dream would have me jumping through hoops to save myself," he growled.

Robin Goodfellow laughed and a breeze began to blow, tugging at Severus' robes. "For that, I'll give you some aid, sour wizard." Lightning flashed above Severus' head and he shivered. "I'll tell ye where one such as yourself might find a magical twig..." A lightning bolt seared the air around Severus and he was blinded.

oOo

Remus felt something strike his back as he slumped over Severus' desk. He and Harry had searched every nook, every cranny, and interrogated every painted headmaster and –mistress currently within the confines of their portraits, all to no avail. The sudden shock had him jumping up, wand at the ready, biting back the wince of pain from his battle injuries.

Fawkes sang out and swooped down on the object where it lay on the floor, scooping it up in his talons carefully and then depositing it on the leather blotter. Remus blinked and reached out wonderingly. When he'd last seen the object, an ornate snuff box, it was in Albus' hands, the very last time he'd spoken to the man in No. Twelve Grimmauld Place. Remus put his wand away as Fawkes settled on his perch, a low, gentle warble seeming to encourage Remus. He looked over his shoulder and received a nod as Fawkes ruffled his feathers.

_Zap!_

An electrical discharge sizzled across Remus' fingertips and he jumped back, growling imprecations under his breath and shaking his hand. Oddly enough, there was no red mark, no scorching, nothing to indicate that Remus had touched something potentially dangerous. He huffed out a few choice words and seated himself at the desk, reaching for the snuff box with both hands this time.

_Sizzle..._

The shocks weren't quite so bad, and his hands stayed where he'd put them, the snuff box warm between them. He closed his eyes, sending a warm thought to the man he owned his life to, and then lifted the lip open with both thumbs. Remus caught his breath and then began laughing. He bit his lips when the laughter felt a bit hysterical and swallowed convulsively until he stopped. Inside the snuff box was a miniature, of a man in dark robes, with straight, midnight black hair and a prodigious proboscis. The artwork's subject crossed its arms and scowled at Remus, one foot tapping impatiently.

Remus ran a thumb over the image, and the tapping foot subsided. "Oh, Severus, I _will_ find you," he breathed out.

A puff of air lifted a twist of parchment out of the snuff box, and it expanded when it touched the blotter's surface.

>   
> _If ye be of like mind, and magic, I bring ye notice of Severus Snape and his whereabouts in the Scotia of yore._
> 
> _To save dark wizard, and reclaim what ye deem necessity, ye must slay the dragon of this castle, give the tithe to the lady of the lake, and mend the broken cornerstone of the badger's house as time unspools._
> 
> _These three things ye must do, an' quickly, for only a fortnight remains from this moment. If ye fail, Severus Snape shall be no more of your time, and darkness shall come in force._
> 
> __
> 
> Robin Goodfellow of the Wood

Remus read the parchment twice, working his way through the antiquated English before he realized he had only fourteen days to solve three riddles and save Severus. He gently placed the miniature back into the snuff box and pocketed it. The parchment he grabbed as he stood up. Fawkes gave a questioning trill.

"'Time unspools?" Remus muttered. He snapped his fingers when he looked at the all the clocks Albus had collected. Time spools forward, so it must... "Time unspools in reverse!" He looked at the parchment and then around the office. "I'm going to save Severus if it's the last thing I do," he said firmly. He strode out of the headmaster's office without a backward glance. Fawkes turned himself around three times on his perch until he found the perfect spot and settled down with a song.

Albus nodded as he heard Fawkes' song seep through the castle. Gellert snarled and stormed away through a wall.

§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§ 

_~~~ Comments, like rain in the desert, are greatly appreciated.  
Thank you for reading. ~~~_


	2. Learn Something New Every Day

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus searches for answers while Severus fumes and then stumbles onto magic beyond his ken.

§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§ 

**_ Disclaimer:_** The world of Harry Potter, its characters and settings are the copyrighted works of J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., her publishing companies and affiliates. No profit was made from the writing of this story nor was any malice intended in any way, shape or form to the author or the actors/actresses who so brilliantly have brought them to life. 

This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.

oOo

"Madam Pince? Madam?" Remus called out as he pushed open the library doors. "Madam? I need your—"

" _Mr. Lupin!_ " Madam Pince hissed. "You've been a student and a professor here. How could you forget the need for lowered voices?" She pursed her lips and shook her head, a frown on her thin lips.

"Madam, Severus has disappeared and I need your help deciphering the, the quests I have to complete to find him." Remus stumbled a bit over the words, but at least he was speaking in lower tones.

She put out a hand, imperiously, and Remus laid the crumpled parchment across it. Rolling her eyes at the sight of a piece of writing so abused, Madam Pince smoothed it out carefully and read it in silence. Remus fidgeted from foot to foot, his body aching but his mind racing.

"The knowledge won't come any faster with your distractions, Mr. Lupin. Kindly go to the Restricted Section and bring me the _**Unexpurgated** Hogwarts: A History_. It's kept on an iron chain. The key is on my desk, in the jelly jar." Madam Pince spoke without looking up, turning her back on Remus as she disappeared into the stacks.

"Unexpurgated?" Remus echoed. He gingerly went around the counter and toward Madam Pince's desk, spotting the incongruous jelly jar right away. He unscrewed the cap and shook the key out into his hand. With that taken care of, he swallowed, licking suddenly dry lips, and carefully crossed the entrance to the Restricted Section. Even when he'd been a professor in Hogwarts, he'd never gone behind the librarian's counter. When no alarms went off, he took a deep breath and looked for the tome. He found it, dancing on its shelf at the end of a very sturdy iron chain. The book snapped at him and he growled at it; the shuffling subsided and Remus unlocked the chain from the book and carried it—very carefully—to Madam Pince's desk. He replaced the key just as Madam Pince wafted two other books on to the desk.

"I see you subdued the volume. It's most unruly." Madam Pince slapped the thick leather and tsked at the book as it growled. "Now, since it's your quest to answer these riddles, you'll have to open the books, but I can point you to the relevant passages." She stepped away from her desk.

"So, the _**Unexpurgated** Hogwarts: A History_ , eh? Juicy stuff?" Remus babbled. His palms were sweating.

"Mr. Lupin, if you didn't remember, there was a war on until recently. I've a great many books to repair and not a moment to lose. Open the History to the chapter on Helga Hufflepuff; she's the one with badgers." Remus opened the tome, growling softly when the book refused to yield at first, but a solid tug had the covers parting and the pages riffling until Helga Hufflepuff's round, smiling face appeared. The writing in her section updated before Remus' eyes and he began reading an account of how she took a consort before the founding of Hogwarts and that it delayed the building of the castle for months. "It says here that the original foundation stone of Hufflepuff Tower was cracked because the magic ritual wasn't followed." He looked over at Madam Pince. "What magic? I thought they used traditional masonry and building spells to create Hogwarts."

Madam Pince wouldn't meet Remus' eyes. "If you would turn to the portion with the pages limned in green and red, you'll see that the magic the Founders used was a, ah, a bit more potent." She blushed and began fiddling with the other books. "Please, look now. I have to put the book away as soon as possible."

Remus flipped the pages to the section she indicated and found something he'd never seen in his copy of _Hogwarts: A History_ : Salazar Slytherin was tucked against Godric Gryffindor's side, besotted looks on both their faces. "Um, oh, dear, now I know why..." Remus read farther and blushed as well. "Sex magic?!" he burst out. The tips of his ears were burning. "No wonder you keep this away from everyone. It says here that they had sex with each other and with Rowena Ravenclaw..." He scanned the next two pages. "But it doesn't say they had sex with Helga."

"From all the accounts I've seen, her consort refused to allow them anywhere near her. They tried to imbue her foundation stone themselves, but without her...her..." Madam Pince swallowed and tried again, "her, ah, input, the magic wasn't cohesive enough. It seems she performed the ritual years later, but without the potency of what could originally have occurred." 

"So, how do I fix Hufflepuff's cracked foundation stone?" He reached up and rubbed at his temple. The History purred as he stroked his fingers absentmindedly over the pages' edges. Madam Pince looked at Remus' fingers, and then back at the book, docile under his stroking.

"Ah, Mr. Lupin, I think that is less of a problem than you think." She tapped his arm and he looked down, down, and then realized what he'd been doing. "Don't stop. Now, do you know your ancestors, Mr. Lupin?"

"My father's family is from France - Lombardy. Mum's family is from Wales. A family story has it that Dafydd ap Llywelyn was a relation, but that's hardly important now, since she was a Muggle." Remus continued petting the History. "Dad's family was all Wizarding or Muggleborn. Never a Squib born in it."

Madam Pince blinked and then chuckled. "Mr. Lupin, if you'd consent to a genealogy spell, I can trace your family on both sides." She summoned a blank scroll and, with a wave of her wand, had it unfurled in front of them. "A drop of your blood will do." Remus held out his other hand, averting his eyes as she cast a charm to take only a drop of blood and spread it on a corner of the floating parchment. Several barely whispered spells and the drop of blood sprouted roots and spread across the parchment.

"Your mother's name was Eleanor and your father's Romulus. That's not French."

Remus chuckled. "Grand'Mere was Italian. My uncles are named Caesar and Augustus. What else does this show?" The History was softly purring under his fingertips.

"The line continues on for many...generations..." Madam Pince was following the lines with her eyes, the look on her face growing more surprised as the lines traced farther back. "You really are related to Daffyd Ap Llywelyn and to...oh, yes! You're a direct descendent of Helga Hufflepuff and, and both Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor. Oh, my," she breathed out.

"You won't tell a soul, will you, Madam?" Remus asked. "I'm only here to save Severus."

"But, you have, there's so much history here." She bit her lip. "I shouldn't push, Mr. Lupin. Just know that by law, this is really your home." 

"Please, just help me save Severus and we'll talk. For now, it's just good to know I might be able to—" He cut himself off. "Does that mean I have to have sex with a descendent of Rowena Ravenclaw's?" he asked in a thin, breathless voice.

"No, no, if I'm understanding it correctly, the fact that you hold three of the four Founders as ancestors will allow you to finish the ritual. You won't have to...to do what they did."

Remus closed the cover of the **_Unexpurgated_** Hogwarts: A History with a pat. The tome just laid there, its pages still for the time being. "If you'd put this someplace less constricting, Madam, I'll be back in a few hours." The tips of his ears reddened again, but Remus walked out of the library with his head held high. With any luck, everyone would be asleep or carousing far, far, far away from Hufflepuff Tower.

♦∞◊¤§¤◊∞♦ 

Severus walked where Robin Goodfellow's wind blew him. His robes were getting tattered from the clutching of branches and stumbling into the trunks of half-seen trees. Ariel often popped out of random trees, making Severus readjust his gait and line of advance, usually into another tree.

He gritted his teeth and forged on. Until the last time, when Ariel appeared so suddenly that Severus was falling onto his knees. He knelt there, in the leaves and debris of the forest, wishing for the umpteenth time that he had his wand. He felt woozy and put up a hand to cradle the right side of his head. His fingers brushed the feather Fawkes had gifted him and a burst of warmth flowed through him.

"You're a menace, Ariel-the-not-quite-elf," Severus muttered. The warmth of Fawkes' feather between his fingers seemed to lend brightness to his sight as well. When he turned his head toward Ariel, he saw a young girl, a classic fairy of the tales, instead of a dumpy, frumpy house-elf-wannabe. "You're under an enchantment, aren't you?" he asked wonderingly. "That's the reason you don't look like Robin or act too nice, isn't it?"

Ariel's eyes darted left and right, and then he/she nodded. "A magical one," he/she bit out awkwardly, "din't enjoy my songs." The voice was broken and thready.

"Would you come closer?" Severus held out the phoenix feather, its golden red colour a flame in the darkness under the trees. "This might help." Severus didn't know where the idea came from, but he truly had nothing to lose. Ariel sidled closer, skittish and wary, until he/she was less than an arm's-length away. Severus reached out and merely brushed Fawkes' feather along the back of his/her hand. The transformation was breathtaking! The dull, overblown features melted away and revealed a young fairy woman, clad in green and brown—just like Robin Goodfellow—leaves in her hair, and a twinkle in her eyes.

"Oh! Oh, thank you, kind sir! Thank you!" She twirled around, suddenly lithesome and nothing at all like the creature Severus had met. Ariel came to a stop in front of him and smiled. Then she opened her lips and sang a trilling, lilting song in Elvish. The dark forest wasn't so lonely anymore, the woods alive with animals moving about their business and Robin Goodfellow crowing with delight.

"My own! Ye've returned my own to me!" Robin flung an arm around Ariel and hugged her, waltzing her around until they were breathless. The pair came to a standstill in front of Severus' bemused eyes. Suddenly, there was a wand between his fingers, being presented with a flourish. "I promised you a stick of power. If what the magical ones do is true, wind thy feather round the base and hold tight." 

Severus was sceptical; he was no wand-maker, but, as beggars cannot be choosers, he decided that he still had nothing to lose and wound the phoenix feather around the base of what felt like a powerful wood—perhaps, hawthorn, or even rowan—and wrapped his fingers around as well. He looked at Robin and Ariel, grinning and smiling at him, and wished that this would be his wand.

Ariel began humming. Puck was whispering under his breath. Severus was ready to consign the twig to the forest when the feather melted into the wood and a shower of sparks erupted from the tip of his new wand. " _Lumos!_ " he shouted, and the forest glade was lit up as if it were a full moon on a cloudless night. Severus' eyes were round and he laughed at the wonderful feeling of having his magic at his disposal again. With a flourish, he conjured a scarf of blue silk and presented it to Ariel.

"For your song, Ariel. I'm glad I could help you with your problem."

Robin smirked and hugged Ariel against his side. "For such aid, I believe, mon, you deserve much comfort." He snapped his fingers and the glade was quiet, but for the sizzle of Severus' Lumos dissolving away.

oOo

Remus made it to the farthest corner of Hufflepuff Tower without meeting anyone. It was only six o'clock in the morning, but the battle's end—gathering the wounded and the dead, celebrating the fact that so many had survived—all of it had taken a toll. Even the castle's ghosts seemed weary and absent.

With a whispered " _Lumos_ ," Remus looked for the cracked foundation stone, trying to think of anything that might excite him enough to, ah, anoint the stone and correct the magic of it. He felt it before he saw it: a greyish, pulsing warmth that fluctuated, like a beating heart. When he saw it, the grey and black streaks made it stand out. It looked nothing like the solid grey-speckled stone of Gryffindor Tower, and when he ran a hand over the surface, it wasn't smooth like it either. Standing there, a hand on the foundation stone, Remus could only think of Severus, of missing the other man's wit and biting sarcasm, of shared conversations and observations, of the fleeting touch of potion-stained fingers on the backs of his hands and wrists, of the only kiss they'd shared before the battle...

Trousers feeling tighter, Remus kept that memory to the forefront of his mind, his casting hand tucking his wand behind his ear and then fumbling with his fly until he could pull out his cock, his very interested, rapidly stiffening cock. "Oh, Severus, I'd much rather have you here, your hand on me, your breath on my cheek." Remus stroked up and down his shaft, twisting his hand over the glans as a fingertip pressed into the slit. He groaned and leaned on his arm, against the foundation stone. "Severus, oh, Severus, we've come so far," he sighed as he worked himself, "and I have kisses to share with you. Bright kisses, biting kisses, sighing kisses..." Remus bit his lip as his bollocks drew up and he sped up his strokes. "I've dreamed of lying in a meadow, you, me and a blanket, the sun shining on us as we touched each other, Severus." Remus' cock throbbed and his strokes were growing erratic. "I want to give myself to you, Severus," Remus whispered brokenly, "I want to feel your fingers inside me, your lips on my skin, your words flowing over me..." He grunted as his orgasm rushed through him, the pearly emission coating the foundation stone under his hand.

It took a few minutes before Remus pulled himself together. Another Lumos was cast and the foundation stone looked no different. Remus sighed. "If I could, I would mend you, stone, make you as strong as your brothers and sisters." He pressed both palms into the surface. "Become strong, damn you!"

The black streaks began slipping away under his hands, until there was only grey-speckled granite there. The warmth of Hufflepuff's foundation stone was strong, the surface smooth and uniform. Remus smiled tiredly and put himself back together. With a last brush of his fingers across the surface, Remus turned away. "One down, two to go," he said softly.

In the darkness, Gellert snarled, "Blast you, Albus!" He stepped out of the wall behind where Remus had performed his magic. He snapped his fingers, but whatever he wanted to happen, didn't. There was a flare of something from a corner of the stone, as if a spear of light had rebounded from a shield, but it stood strong. Gellert faded away, leaving behind ineffective curses in the air.

♦∞◊¤§¤◊∞♦ 

Severus found himself in one of Hogwarts' courtyards. Robin Goodfellow and Ariel were at his side, holding hands and being loathsomely _in love_. He rolled his eyes, wondering why he'd been brought there. Within minutes, he didn't care.

"I say I shall rend you from his side!" a woman shouted.

"Nay, slattern! He is my shield-arm, my concubine, my steed, my steel, and my heart. We are one!" a man yelled back.

The arguing pair came into sight just as Robin touched Severus' shoulder and a chill, damp feeling oozed over him. "Be silent, oh beaky one, an' ye'll hear a tale of woe and strife like no bard had ever sung," the elf whispered.

"I am Morgan Le Fay, you hideous lump of a mortal." The witch of legend stomped her foot and a tree fell over, crashing a score of yards from Severus and the elves. Ariel's shoulders shook and she turned her face into Robin's shoulder, crying silently. "I deem Sir Gryffindor a suitable consort for this era. Who are you to gainsay me, little man?" she asked snidely.

The small man, dressed warmly in thick green woollen robes stopped and glared at her as he drew himself up. "I am Salazar Slytherin of the Frankish lands. I have lived as many years as you, lady, but I have learned from their passage. I have come to appreciate my mate's sterling qualities, and despair of his weaknesses. Yet, we complement each other in both, an' I'll not let such an ill wind as you blow our shared joys an' sorrows into tatters. Your time is passing." He looked away from the witch, toward what Severus knew as Gryffindor's Tower. "Even the great Merlin has retreated to a place outside of Man's ken. You should do the same an' retain your dignity."

"Pah! Dignity? From an upstart conjurer such as yourself? You are as nothing to me." Severus watched as Morgan rolled her wrists and created a ball of lightning between her hands. "Shall I show you how puny your magic is against my sorcery, Slytherin?" She threw the ball of lightning at Salazar and it exploded in a burst of light and sound. Morgan smirked and dusted her hands with a hissing laugh. "Ha! Nothing but a poseur, as I said."

_Crack!_

A bolt of lightning struck the ground behind Morgan Le Fay's back. Salazar stood in the crater left behind, robes as pristine as before. His wand was nowhere in sight. "You ignore the evidence of your senses, witch. The time of myths is coming to its end. Better to leave now, while we may tell your stories and keep your history alive than to be blasted into silence." He clapped his hands and rolling thunder crashed, the energy driving Morgan back a few steps. Severus could see the surprise on her face, and a growing awareness that she hadn't realized the power in the wizards of Hogwarts.

Severus added his own tuppence-worth and sent a vicious Bat-Bogey Hex her way. The sight of the mighty sorceress Morgan Le Fay with snot running out of her oh-so-lovely nose, growing bat's wings and attacking her, had Salazar biting his lip, Robin and Ariel laughing uproariously, and even Severus allowing a small smirk to curl the corners of his lips dangerously close to a smile. She screeched and batted at the bogeys swarming around her, but to no avail. With a snarling, wordless screech, she put one hand to the heavens and vanished in a puff of sulphurous smoke. 

In the ensuing silence, Salazar looked toward the space where Severus and the two elves were hidden and then he smiled. With a delicate turn of his casting hand, they were revealed to his eyes. "Ah, a fellow mage an' two sprites. Welcome to Hogwarts, welcome most assuredly." His dark eyes glinted in the fading sunset. He looked over Severus' shoulder and gestured for the trio to follow him. "Come and meet my consort, Sir Godric, before he goes on this night's hunt."

Severus' forward momentum ceased abruptly as his mind filled with the only meaning those words could have. "He's a werewolf?" he choked out. "Fucking hell, it's a Gryffindor trait," he muttered under his breath. "It's the house of the werewolf, not the lion."

Shaking his head, Severus bit out, "No thank you, sir." Robin and Ariel looked at him and then at Salazar, shrugging their shoulders. "I am not fond of werewolves. Nor are they of me."

Salazar stared at Severus, as if by looking long enough he'd see what made him feel that way. Minutes ticked by as the light waned and dusk grew darker. Ariel scuffed her toe in the grass and the last of the summer's blooms glowed like miniature lanterns. "Those who wear fur unwilling are victims, much as I," she said softly. "I saw them, werewolves and –cats, hunting and howling, alone, always alone." She turned to Robin and put out her hand, which he took with gratifying swiftness. "Yet, with kindness and heart, they rend themselves very little, and they grow strong. There's nothing to fear from a man in fur if his heart is good."

"You speak in riddles. I was attacked as a youth. The slavering beast would have made me like him, if not eaten me, if someone..." Severus had to lick his lips, "if someone hadn't been there to save me. Mindless, ravening, awful beast, a nightmare on four feet," Severus said in a rush.

"Still, come inside and partake of our hospitality, good wizard. If you deem it ill to be out on a moonlit night, then come away and sit by my fire so that I may hear more of you." Salazar looked at the elves. "I will not abuse you, kind beings, as there is iron aplenty within, but visit our buttery, where Helga has created a most wonderful place without nail or tie." He gave a crooked smile to Robin and Ariel. "I believe Helga's cook made thimbleberry pie and mince meat pie, as well." The elves nodded and disappeared, leaving Severus clutching his wand—he hadn't realized he was still holding it until them—alone, in the past, with the head of his House, who was nothing like the history books portrayed him, cursing his exceedingly bad luck at finding out.

"Wait, just...wait. You realize I'm not of your time, don't you?" Severus asked abruptly.

Salazar nodded. "You are like no other wizard I have met before, yet your magic feels somewhat familiar to me. With such evidence, I deem it wiser to keep you near than let you wander."

"Then, tell me something true, Master Slytherin. Tell me why you created the werewolves," Severus said carefully. His whole body was vibrating with the question that had surprised him, overwhelmed his better judgment, and demanded to be asked.

"The night will only grow colder. This is better discussed in the warmth of the castle, and with my shield-arm by my side." Salazar spun on his heel and strode toward the castle, his heavy woollen robes barely fluttering with each step. Severus hurried after him, a small part of him wondering why in the seven hells he'd asked about the creation of werewolves when he hated Lu-, hated them.

They came to a wooden door, decorated with runes of protection and strength, heavy hinges inscribed with yet another language, and no sign of a keyhole or pull. Salazar looked over his shoulder and smirked at Severus. "Observe, traveller." He put his bare hand against the centre of the door and asked softly for admittance. The whole portal glowed and the door then opened without a squeal of hinges or the scrape of wood over the lintel. "You too must ask the castle for entrance. Do as I did, an' you shall follow." Salazar stepped through and the door slammed in Severus' face.

Mouthing obscenities, Severus stepped back and looked over the door, but he couldn't see—nor could he _feel_ —any way to open it. Bowing his head, he sidled closer and put his hand in the centre of the door and asked the castle to let him in. The glow blazed forth and Severus could feel a foreign magic flowing over him, almost as if it were _learning_ him. Without a sound, the door opened wide, and he stepped forward.

§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§ 

_~~~ Comments, like rain in the desert, are greatly appreciated.  
Thank you for reading. ~~~_  



	3. Research and Refinement and a Rowan Tree

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Remus in the library with remarkable books and Severus in Hogwarts running from an oversexed Founder...sounds like a board game, doesn't it?

§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§ 

**  
_ Disclaimer:_   
** The world of Harry Potter, its characters and settings are the copyrighted works of J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., her publishing companies and affiliates. No profit was made from the writing of this story nor was any malice intended in any way, shape or form to the author or the actors/actresses who so brilliantly have brought them to life.

This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.

oOo

The very foundations of Hogwarts Castle shook. Children squealed, the refugees within its walls huddled together, and the professors and students looked askance at one another. _What now?_

Gellert cackled with glee and swooped around the Great Hall, chivvying the House Ghosts and frightening the First and Second Years. Temporary headmistress McGonagall pinched her lips, sniffed like a cat that had caught the scent of a rancid rodent, and sent off a flurry of memos to Professor Flitwick and Remus, young Harry Potter and Hermione Granger, and, luckily, the one of the best cursebreakers Hogwarts had ever matriculated: Bill Weasley. She had to stop herself from sending a fluttering memo to Severus' quarters; he'd have known just how to handle the obnoxious mysterious spectre in their midst.

Albus frowned, but kept silent, and hidden. His portrait was due to wake soon, and then he'd communicate with them, but not before. Remus needed more time to set things right and save Severus. If he didn't finish all three quests, there might not be a castle to save.

oOo

Remus had barely felt his head hit the pillow when a madly flapping memo was pushing its way past the doorjamb and wobbling about his head. He swatted at the thing tiredly, but being the responsible adult he was, he groaned and sat up, catching it between both hands—and releasing a whimper of pain at the pulling of his still-healing flesh for his trouble. He unfolded it and read Minerva's terse note: _Strange ghost terrorising Great Hall. Come quickly._

Remus made it to the Great Hall just as Harry, Hermione, and Bill were approaching the towering doors. The sounds of splintering wood and smashing crockery intermingled with the cries of young voices and the stern castings of Minerva herself. Remus took one door ring, Bill took the other, and they pulled the doors apart to find...mayhem.

The Fat Friar was popping around the Great Hall, his always smiling face now devoid of any mirth as he— _was that a mace in his hands?!_ —confronted the strangely familiar, yet mysterious, ghost. The Grey Lady and Nearly Headless Nick had gathered what Firsties and Seconds there were in a corner, away from the mad phantom, but too far from the doors. The Bloody Baron and Peeves were dashing in to grapple with the interloper while Minerva cast revealing charms and repelling spells, but nothing seemed to be working.

When Remus set foot in the Great Hall, something strange happened. The misty form of a rowan tree burst through an ethereal crack in the flagstones and laughter, bright and merry, suddenly erupted from all the corners of the vast room. Bill and Hermione shared a considering glance and shoved Harry toward Remus' side. "Watch him," they said at the same time, and then they went toward Minerva.

The fireplace behind the Gryffindor tables burst into flame and what looked like two salamanders curled together in the coals appeared. As the room began to warm, Remus tilted his head and grinned as a whistled tune gained strength and wove into the laughter. He remembered that whistle from his childhood. He'd followed it through the Forbidden Forest often enough. "Severus," he breathed out.

♦∞◊¤§¤◊∞♦ 

Severus watched as Salazar caused a rowan tree to grow within the Great Hall of Hogwarts, roots pushing through the flagstones, but without the crumbling of stone or the destruction of the paving. "Why?" he asked.

Salazar looked at him with a wry smile. "My shield-arm taught me that there is great power in us, but to use it to bring forth life is to the betterment of all."

"That's not an answer." Severus crossed his arms over his chest, seemingly the only body language he could speak anymore. "Why the werewolves? Why this childish display of power? Why? Why? Why?" he demanded.

Robin Goodfellow appeared in mid-air, hovering just above the rowan tree. A faint breeze stirred the leaves as he tumbled in front of them. Once he righted himself, he slipped down to the floor to stand next to Salazar. "Good Snape, you ask the wrong questions of this magical lord. Ask instead why the change, good sir." He laughed at Severus' disgruntled face and bowed to both wizards before fading away. His laughter lingered and then also slowly faded away.

"Riddles. I have nothing but riddles and inane sayings." Severus uncrossed his arms and strode toward one of the massive fireplaces, drawing his new wand to awaken the salamanders napping on the firedogs. Soon there was a blazing fire. "I just want to go home," he muttered at the flames.

"Is home where your heart rests then?" Salazar asked. "Do the answers to your riddles reside there?"

Severus shook his head. "I have been fighting in a war two decades old. We'd finally won, and in a moment of peace..." He shrugged his shoulders, still staring into the flames. "Peace? Hah! More like a moment of absolute idiocy—I was thrown here, without a wand, meeting figments of the imagination and history, and none of it...none of it makes sense."

The rowan tree's leaves brushed together in the breeze Robin Goodfellow had created, the susurration of them rubbing together and the crackling of the fire calming Severus, even if he still held himself ready for battle.

"You asked me about the werewolves, wizard Snape." Salazar's words broke into Severus' thoughts. "I did not create them. I fell in love with a man whose line had been cursed by a vengeful witch, one of the Blue People. My Godric's ancestors came to this land with the Danaan and bred with the Milesians. This was frowned upon by the Old Ones." Salazar clapped his hands and a platter of food and utensils appeared on one of the tables. "Eat and I will tell you the tale of the weres of the hollow."

Severus sighed and turned away from the fire. He blinked at the heaped platter, but when his stomach grumbled he huffed and then walked the few steps to the table and sat. Noticing how Salazar cut open a hard bun and hollowed it out, he did the same, creating a trencher, and then spooned what smelled like lamb stew into it. They ate for a few minutes, the salamanders in the fireplace chirping and shifting, making the flames dance and cast strange shadows.

After eating half of what he'd taken, Salazar continued his story. "Godric's people were powerful in their own right, Celts of the far east, the seeds of Greeks and Macedonians. They'd brought strong magic with them, and the people of the woad didn't understand it. One night, whilst hunting, Godric's many times removed father brought down what he thought was a wolf. He found, to his regret, it was a native warrior. She.... ah, I see you understand this part of the story," Salazar said with a smirk, "she was a scout, sent to investigate the strangers in their wild land."

"It's too bloody fantastic," Severus said after swallowing. "My apologies, but this has to be a dream. It has all the earmarks of a ruddy fairy tale." He waved his gravy-covered spoon at Salazar.

"Tsk, good Snape, all tales of the Fae begin as truth stretched out over imagined adventures," Salazar chided Severus. "May I continue?" he asked, and then did so without waiting for Severus to reply. 

"This woman of the woad was a witch in her own right, but wounded by iron, she was turned out, deemed feeble and less than nothing for being caught out by Godric's father." Salazar stared past Severus and into the fireplace. "She was a shapeshifter, tied to the land and her animal, the great wolf. Her father, a shaman of some repute, cursed Godric's father and all his descendents ever after to be wolfish in nature, revealing the darkness within themselves under the strange light of the moon."

Another voice spoke out of the darkness, startling Severus. "The woad witch, a grandmother of many ages gone, changed the curse." Severus' wand was up and pointed in the voice's direction until Salazar reached across the table and pushed the wand tip down. Godric Gryffindor stepped into the firelight, his tabard showing a lion rampant over a hunting wolf.

"My forefathers were blessed by her." Godric sat at Salazar's side, the wizards sharing a warm glance. "We were given the ability to control the wolf, to understand its power. My helpmeet tamed the wolf before he tamed me, good sir." Godric stared at Severus, strangely glinting amber eyes reminding him of another werewolf. "Do my descendents not understand that they are not ravening beasts but merely the blended beings of two magics?" he asked.

Severus shook his head. "I was almost eaten by what is probably one of your descendents, Merlin save us. A disgusting, maddened beast of no mind, no restraint." Severus shivered and looked away. "It is darkness personified."

Godric reached out and put his calloused fingertips against the back of Severus' hand, tapping until Severus looked at him. "Then perhaps your quest is to remove the blight that makes it so," he said softly.

oOo

"Remus, what do you think?" Harry asked.

"Given that there's a rowan tree in the middle of the Great Hall, Harry, I think we've passed into the realm of myth," Remus said with a quiver in his voice. When Harry touched his arm, he laughed outright. "Harry, what I'm saying is, I think the last battle and all the power flying around unlocked a secret of Hogwarts. Something strange and wonderful is going on, but I haven't the faintest clue what it is."

Looking at the strange spirit zipping around the Great Hall, Peeves harassing it with what looked like ghostly dung bombs and the Bloody Baron menacing it with a transparent, but probably deadly, claymore, Harry gave Remus a lopsided grin. "Well, we defeated Voldemort. This should be easy-peasy, yeah?"

They laughed, and Gellert shuddered to a stop in the air. All the chairs and platters and utensils he'd been tossing around fell to the floor with a horrendous clatter. The other ghosts seemed to swell in size as he shrank a bit. Minerva and Hermione and Bill looked at each other, shrugged and began chuckling as well. The Fat Friar popped into the space by the Firsties and the Seconds and clapped his hands, making funny faces at the children, adding to the mirthful sounds in the Great Hall. Gellert's form thinned and then evaporated in a puff of mist, the ethereal laughter from before surging as he disappeared. The Great Hall was brighter all of a sudden, and the feeling of dread was gone.

"May we go now?" a Firstie in Ravenclaw blue asked. The Grey Lady nodded, and she and Nearly Headless Nick herded them out, Peeves cackling and whooshing over their heads. The Bloody Baron inclined his helm toward Remus and disappeared without a sound. The Fat Friar shouldered his mace, winked at Remus and Harry's gobsmacked faces when it turned into a haunch of beef, and walked straight through the Great Hall's doors.

When the students and the House Ghosts were gone, Minerva surveyed the damage with a jaundiced eye. "That blasted spook's done mur damage ta the hall than all a' Voldemort's minions," she said, her brogue strong.

"Well, we knew were going to be remodelling anyhow," Hermione said, and once again, everyone was laughing. The leaves on the phantom rowan danced as if their honest amusement was a breeze, and the ruined Great Hall felt somehow better, safer.

"Professor McGonagall, did that ghost look familiar to you?" Remus asked after the laughter had died down.

"I was but a girl tha last time I saw that phiz, but I'd swear 'twas Grindelwald," she said after a moment.

Within the walls of Hogwarts, Albus smiled and danced a bit of a gig. They were one step closer to foiling Gellert's mad plans. Now, if only Remus would find the other clue he'd left...

oOo

A few days later, Remus sat in the Great Hall looking at the rowan tree in the middle of the floor. It was becoming more solid as time went on, often thickening with the working of magic in its presence. Not just any magic, mind, but the kind that aided and repaired Hogwarts.

"Remus?" Harry stood at his elbow. 

"Oh! Sorry, Harry, I was just woolgathering," Remus said with a tired smile. "What can I do to help you?"

"I was talking with Madam Pince," Harry said, and then he bit his lip. "Well, actually, I was hiding from Hermione, and for some reason I ran into the library and she caught me and she said you needed some help and..." his voice trailed off.

"Good grief, Harry, all that in one breath? Sit down, lad, sit down. Have some hot chocolate, and tell me what Madam Pince said." Remus knew what she was referring to, but he wanted to know just what she'd told Harry.

Harry took a deep breath, blew it out, and spoke more slowly. "She said you have to do some things to get Headmaster Snape back. She mentioned something about mending a cornerstone, and slaying Hogwarts' dragon, and giving something to the lady in the lake, whoever that is." Harry looked a bit confused, but game. "Professor McGonagall won't let me do too much, yet. She said I've used too much magic already and I need to rest up a bit, but it's boring doing nothing while everyone is helping put the castle and the rest of the Wizarding world back together." Harry made a moue of distaste. "I feel like a tissue that's been sneezed in and thrown out."

Remus choked on a startled laugh at Harry's analogy. "Ah," he could barely formulate a sentence as he chuckled. Once he'd gotten that out of the way, he looked at Harry's eager face. "All right, Harry, I know you've been tramping all over this castle just like I did at your age. Where do you think we'll find the lady in the lake and what kind of tithe do you think we have to give her?"

"First, what's a tithe?" Harry squinted up at a massive painting over the Gryffindor fireplace, thinking. "The lake's been here since Hogwarts was built, right? So, the lady could be a statue or something like that, yeah?"

"A tithe is an offering. If we knew what the lady in the lake referred to, then we'd know what to offer." Remus stared up at the painting as he tried to puzzle it out.

Harry made a soft sound of surprise and as Remus turned his head to look at Harry, he saw something in the painting, something he hadn't noticed before.

They looked at each other with bemused eyes. "It's the Giant Squid!" they both exclaimed.

Harry made a sour face. "Ooh, ick." Remus chuckled.

They left the Great Hall at a quick pace—at least one that an injured werewolf and a once-dead Wizarding hero might call quick—and headed straight for the library.

oOo

Madam Pince was nowhere in sight, but Remus thought he spotted a familiar scroll on her desk, and putting his index finger against his lips for silence, he drew Harry around the librarian's counter. "Madam Pince did this for me so I could, ah..." Remus rubbed the back of his neck, unexpectedly blushing, and continued in a breathy whisper, "...so I could fix the broken foundation stone."

Harry unrolled the scroll, eyes growing bigger as he saw the genealogy reaching ever farther into the mists of time. He paused and tapped his finger under a name. "Heh. I think we're related. Says here an Augustus Potter married an Evangeline Lupin in 1305." He squinted. "He was from York, too." Harry looked up with a smile. "Nice to know I have relatives." They shared a smile and then stood stock still when they heard the library door opening. With the barest amount of fumbling the scroll was rerolled, and Remus and Harry were away from the desk and on the other side of the counter when Madam Pince noticed them.

Before she could say anything, a scroll popped into existence over the counter and fell with a muted crackle. All three of them blinked, Harry and Remus' wands out and their magic swelling around them. When neither one felt anything remotely dangerous, they put them away under Madam Pince's interested eyes. "I see that things are returning to normal, Mr. Potter," she said with a smirk.

"You wouldn't by chance be related to Severus, would you, Madam Pince?" Remus asked bemusedly. Harry shook his head and shuffled his feet. 

Madam Pince chuckled. "His mother is my second cousin, Mr. Lupin." She nodded toward the scroll. "I assume you'll want to cast the standard spells and charms before anyone attempts opening that, yes?" Remus flushed and pulled his wand out again and soon they were unrolling the scroll on her desk so all three of them could see it. Remus read it aloud:

>   
>  Be it known to the ~~sodding~~ recipient of this scroll, that's you, Remus John Lupin, that this is a record of Severus Snape's, ~~that is I,~~ my time amongst the Founders. I willingly, and of my free will, dictate this in the hopes— ~~precious few and far between that I have~~ —that you will take the information to heart and... 

Remus' voice faltered and Harry thumped on the back. "What's wrong?"

"It's really from Severus," Remus said brokenly. "I'd recognize that spiky scrawl anywhere." Remus drew in a shaky breath and laughed. "He's crossed out so many words."

"Looks like chicken scratch to me," Harry said. When Remus stared at him, he elaborated. "School visit to a farm outside Little Whinging. Chickens were everywhere." 

"Mr. Lupin, I do not think Mr. Potter can see the real text. I myself see something like Old English mixed with Assyrian. This was only intended for your eyes, although the map at the bottom seems legible." Harry nodded and pointed out the Black Lake and a stylized squid in it.

"Yeah, I see the squid and the lake and what looks like the Forbidden Forest a lot closer to the castle than now." Harry and Madam Pince looked at Remus with bright eyes. Harry touched Remus' hand. "Finish reading it to us, please? This is loads better than whatever Hermione will get me to do."

Remus' laugh at that was loud and cleansing. He nodded and then continued:

>   
>  ...that you will take the information to heart and use it to bring me ~~home~~ back to Hogwarts.
> 
> By now you've come to the conclusion the lady in the lake has something to do with the Giant Squid and have been to see Madam Pince. Get what you can from her. You'll need it in order to solve this riddle; as well, you'll have to confront the Grey Lady. She holds the key to the Giant Squid's existence.
> 
> I cannot help you any further. ~~Merlin knows you need all the bloody help you can get!~~ Be that as it may, Lupin, I don't belong here, and I'd rather live as a Muggle in the future than spend the rest of my days here.
> 
> Lupin, there are bloody manticores and chimera rushing about the Forbidden Forest! I've even met Morgan Le Fay, and let me tell you, she's nothing like history's painted her. She's worse, a bloody tantrum-throwing nightmare. Bring me home!  
> 

Remus stopped reading and looked up at the other two. "If nothing else screams 'Severus Snape', that last bit does." The faint strains of a whistled tune seemed to rise up from the scroll before it rolled itself up tight.

"Well, it seems we're on the right track, Harry." Remus looked over at Madam Pince and caught a speculative gleam in her eye. "Where shall we find more on the Grey Lady and the Giant Squid, Madam?"

♦∞◊¤§¤◊∞♦ 

"Severus Snape! I'll have you yet, my fine stallion!" a Banshee's voice screamed.

Severus pressed his back against the once-comforting walls of the Slytherin dungeons. Salazar was off with his lover, and Lady Helga was in a birthing room somewhere in Hufflepuff Tower. There was no one to save him from...

"Lady Ravenclaw!" a bright, cheerful, and more than likely oblivious young man called out. "Lady Rowena! We've caught a gryphon in the forest. It's in need of care, your ladyship."

"Faugh!" Rowena Ravenclaw snarled. Severus tried to seep into the cracks between the mortar as he listened to her retreat. "You guardsmen are naught but pins sent to prick me in my leisure." The scrape of something metallic—likely the small sword she kept strapped to her side—travelled down the hall. "You'll not escape me, Snape!" she called out as the metallic scraping sound died away. "I've warded this hall, Severus, my dove. You'll be mine soon." The muffled sound of boots faded away slowly.

"Oh, ho, magical one!" a disembodied voice laughed. Severus flinched and heaved a sigh of relief when Robin Goodfellow appeared before him. "Thou hast the way of the wooer, Sir Snape." Robin made a courtly bow and shattered the gravity of it by chortling at Severus' tooth-grinding. "'Tis better to be wanted by one such as the she devil than my lady Le Fay." Robin nodded sagely, and then leaned forward to whisper, "This one you might vanquish."

Severus shook his head and then pulled himself from the wall, shooting his cuffs in a show of nonchalance. "I was merely touring what will be my home in the future, and did not deign to share the experience with Lady Ravenclaw."

"Oh, Sir Snape, you are a witty one," Robin crowed with a laugh. "But, harken to me, and I'll show ye an escape and freedom outside of this witchly one's doings." Robin held out his hand, waiting with a smile for Severus to take it. When Severus finally put his hand in Robin's, he blinked, and he and Robin were on the shore of the Black Lake, a pristine, clear Highland loch where fat trout and no squid resided.

Ariel met the two of them under a young chestnut tree, neighing at the horsy dryad residing there. She smiled and Robin's eyes grew soft and even Severus' ill will seemed to lessen. The three of them set off a few hundred yards, out of sight of the castle. There, amongst a repast of out-of-season raspberries, mulberries, and freshly baked hot cross buns, Severus felt the tension that had taken up residence in his shoulders loosen.

"How did you know to find me, Master Goodfellow?" Severus asked after he'd eaten the last of the mulberries. 

Surprisingly, Ariel answered. "My sweetheart went at my wish, Sir Snape." Ariel blushed a bit. "My rowan overheard her plans to seduce you and keep you here. You are but a visitor, and my saviour. I could no more ignore that threat than one against my own Robin." She ducked her head shyly.

Robin took up the thread of the story. "My lady love has the right of it, Sir Snape. It would be ill of me to ignore such trespass against ye. Thus, being the spritely spirit that I am, I spoke with the castle, and it sent me to ye." A flurry of dandelion seeds appeared from nothing and swirled around them, making Ariel laugh delightedly and Severus crack a small smile.

"I...I thank you both for your kindness," Severus said as Ariel's laughter died away.

"Think naught of it, Sir Snape. It's a Goodfellow's pleasure to impede a witch's ill progress."

oOo

Harry huffed and then sneezed as he drew in some more dust from the library books Madam Pince had unearthed. "How Hermione likes all this researching is a mystery to me," he muttered.

"Harry, this is what I lived for when I was in school. Researching, learning, expanding my knowledge so that I was ready for anything. Well that, and falling in love." Ignoring Harry's questioning look, Remus leaned back and stretched, popping his neck and shoulders and making Harry cringe. "The full moon is coming in two days, Harry. I have to have this solved. After my transformation, there are only seven more days to solve the last riddle if we do." He shook himself and pulled the **_Unexpurgated_** Hogwarts: A History closer with a sigh. "If only this would show me what brought the Giant Squid to the Black Lake."

The pages fluttered and turned by themselves, startling Remus and Harry. When they settled, there was a drawing of a tall, severe woman dressed in a fine linen tunic and a heavily embroidered tabard cinched at the waist with an intricate gold belt. She wore a barbaric cloak of fur that hung down her back to pool around her feet on the floor. There was a short sword at her side and a shield resting against her hip. The caption read: _Lady Rowena Ravenclaw, with accoutrements of battle._ Remus stared at the picture and saw a battle axe and a sword in the background.

Remus suddenly burst out, "Listen to this, Harry!"

> The Lady Rowena was renowned as a fierce warrior and protector. Unfortunately, she was as fierce of temper as she was of arm. Her appetites were legendary. She bore no less than six children fathered by six different men—three wizards, a Selkie, a Muggle, and a Milesian.
> 
> She was voracious. Never a fortnight without a bed-partner, never the same man after that. Once she set her sights upon a male, he would be hers.

Licking his dry lips, Remus stared at the text until Harry prodded him with a toe to the shin.

> In the history of fabled Hogwarts, Lady Rowena stands head and shoulders above those who have taken what they wanted and thrown it aside in a quest for more. Only once was she thwarted, and by a man of legendary ugliness. He appeared at Lord Salazar Slytherin's side one autumn day, was a companion of dryad and faery, and scowled darkly as if nothing in the world could make him smile. This man, this wizard, was as nothing to the Founders, and yet, Lady Rowena pursued him, hunting him day and night. Woe befell her on the last night of that fortnight, and she vanished from the pages of history. Of the mysterious wizard who rebuffed her, he lived to love another day.

"It ends there," Remus said softly. "It just _ends_."

"Let me see that," Harry commanded. Remus turned the tome toward him and let him read the pages for himself. Harry turned the page; there'd only been two pages and the drawing of Rowena. "Hey! Remus, look at this!" Harry pointed at what looked like a charcoal drawing of two figures having a duel. There was a thin, wraith-like wizard all in black, with a beaky nose, and the buxom beauty of the preceding pages, a short sword in one hand and her wand in the other. Spells were flying from one toward the other, shimmering ink words instead of actual—damaging—spells. Harry traced his finger under the caption and read it out for Remus.

> There are rumours of a great reckoning betwixt Lady Rowena and her prey. This wizard was no cowering knave, nor a puling weakling. Like all majestic beasts, he defended himself when pushed to the wall. The stones of Hogwarts Great Hall and its Grand Entrance will bear the mark of this battle for aeons by the doing of Lord Slytherin and his shield-arm, Lord Gryffindor.

Harry looked up at Remus with eyes as big as saucers. "Does that mean what I think it means?"

"I think they were lovers, Harry. Definitely something _I_ never learned about." Remus tapped the page. "Is there more?" he asked.

Harry resumed reading, the crests of his ears a bright red.

> ...and his shield-arm, Lord Gryffindor. They were as witnesses to the proper and sanctioned duel betwixt Lady Rowena and the stranger. Many spells were cast, many hexes thrown, but guile and strength overcame anger and lust with a loud clangour of faery bells and a smirk. Suffice it to say that Lady Rowena was vanquished, driven from the walls of Hogwarts Castle until the time when she should renounce her ways.
> 
> On that night, a fierce storm swept through the mountains, raising the level of the Black Lake to its present depth. The waters raged, the Merpeople sang mournful songs while the castlefolk celebrated, and Lady Rowena was swallowed whole by the very violence of nature, imprisoned by her own failings.

Swallowing, Harry blinked a couple of times before looking up into Remus' eyes. "Snape's a fucking bad-arse," he finally choked out. Remus almost hurt himself at the laugh that pulled out of him.

"Ah, that's Professor Snape the bad-arse, if you would, Harry," Remus said through his mirth.

Harry turned the tome back toward Remus and tapped the slowly moving representation of the duel. "If this is Professor Snape beating Rowena, then what's the Grey Lady have to do with this?"

♦∞◊¤§¤◊∞♦ 

Severus snarled and struggled for breath to shout out another hex, this one making Rowena's kirtle writhe like a boa constrictor and begin squeezing her body. She was having trouble drawing in a full breath until she clawed out her short sword and cleaved the transfigured snake in two.

"Such passion, Severus, my love," she ground out in a hoarse voice. "I'll have you this night or die trying." Rowena stilled and a storm of magic swirled around her, coalescing and then she flung a hand toward Severus, throwing it all at him. He barely got a Protego out before dropping to one knee, lungs labouring to draw in air.

"Neh-never, you hag," he gasped. "If I'm to bed anyone, it wouldn't be a loathsome trollop like you. And, it'd be a male, to boot!" Severus struggled up to his feet and gathered his magical reserves, with a random thought about dying here in the past and never letting Remus know what he'd learned, how he'd changed.... He shouted the infamous Bat-Bogey Hex and then a fierce series of spells " _Expelliarmus! Reducto! Expelliarmus! Petrificus Totalus!_ " and it was done. Lady Helga, Salazar and Godric sent up yellow sparks to signal the end of the duel.

Looking over at the assembled students and teachers, Godric smirked and crossed his arms over his chest. "Milady Ravenclaw has been defeated by Sir Severus Snape, the adopted son of Salazar Slytherin." A smattering of cheers greeted the announcement. "In light of her defeat, Lady Ravenclaw must abide by the terms she set out afore time. Let no door hinder her, no witch or wizard or being aid her in her retreat." He looked down his nose at Rowena and sneered. "By Merlin's beard, I pity you for the haze of lust to which you have succumbed."

Helga, Salazar, and Godric raised their wands and touched the tips together. A violet flame erupted. All three of them began speaking: "By thy wand, thou art banished. By thy words, thou art reviled. By thy actions, thee are cast out. Only when thou looseth the chain of the cravings within thee shalt thou be welcome in Hogwarts Castle once more. So mote it be!" The doors of the Great Hall opened with a crash, startling everyone and Rowena Ravenclaw swept out, her retinue hanging back and then turning away from her as she passed. There was only silence until the doors slammed shut behind her. Then Severus swayed and would have fallen if not for Robin Goodfellow's sudden appearance and strong arm.

"Tell Ariel I'm sorry her rowan was blasted during the duel," Severus murmured.

"Ye've naught to worry about, Sir Snape," Robin said with a hard glint in his eyes. He looked at the doors of the Great Hall as if he could see through them. "That rowan shall be avenged." The winds howled outside the window embrasures of the Great Hall. "That slight shall be erased."

§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§ 

_~~~ Comments, like rain in the desert, are greatly appreciated.  
Thank you for reading. ~~~_  



	4. Grey is the Colour of both Lady and Mage

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The past has a way of making itself know to us, even if it's just a pale shade of itself.

§¤§¤*§*¤§¤§ 

**  
_ Disclaimer:_   
** The world of Harry Potter, its characters and settings are the copyrighted works of J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., her publishing companies and affiliates. No profit was made from the writing of this story nor was any malice intended in any way, shape or form to the author or the actors/actresses who so brilliantly have brought them to life.

This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.

oOo

Remus sat in the Great Hall having a midnight snack. The next day was the full moon, an afternoon moon. He was running out of time.

He stared at the rowan tree, almost opaque now. Whenever the leaves quivered, he thought he could hear Severus' voice whispering things he'd never said in real life. Healing or rebuilding magic brought forth Severus' whistle, but Remus was too tired to cast any. He bit his lip and looked away from the tree.

There was a sharp crack and the rowan shivered and shook and lost several branches on one side. The smell of burnt wood and acrid hexes was in the air. Remus' eyes narrowed as a shadowy figure all in green, with a feathered cap, seemed to separate from the tree's ethereal shadow. Another crack and the shadow was standing before Remus, a smirk on its transparent face.

"Ah, ye must be the heart of Sir Snape," it said in a lilting voice. "I've come to prod ye to fetch him home soon. Time grows short, magical one."

Remus was so tired, he didn't flinch or twitch as the shadow glided closer, close enough for him to notice it had no scent, no substance. "Aye, Robin Goodfellow I be, sprite of air and faery of legend. Ye are the heart of Severus Snape, a friend of mine and my sweetheart. I bid you hasten to the dungeons of Slytherin and look for the rune of Ravenclaw. There ye'll find the lady in grey ye seek, and the answer to thy riddle." Robin clapped his hands and stiff breeze startled Remus up onto his feet. "Go now, ye daft wolf, go save thy mon." The shade evaporated in front of Remus' bemused eyes even as the wind picked up and pushed at Remus' back.

Remus stopped at the doors and turned around. The wind died down and the remaining leaves on the rowan went back to making soft sounds as they brushed against each other. "Thank you, Master Goodfellow. I'll do my best to bring him home." He pushed one of the doors open. A thread of something sounding like Severus followed him: " _You'd damned well better, you prat._ " Remus smiled and stood taller as he strode away.

oOo

In the depths of Slytherin, in the lowest dungeons, Remus found the crude rune. It was deeply etched into the stones, so deep that the edges weren't worn after all this time. But the ill intent? Oh, that was just as bright, just as dangerous as when Rowena Ravenclaw had carved it. Remus' skin prickled; he knew what to do with that dark rune, and he was glad there was no one around to see him do it.

He put his hand over the rune—after he undid the placket on his trousers and pulled out his half-hard cock—and began reciting a cleansing ritual. This wasn't a Hogwarts or Wizarding ritual; it was a guttural, growling, ancient ritual, with none of the trappings of a civilized world. Intent, power, and passion were integral to it, but so was purity of heart. Remus tried to combine all that—and his sure strokes up and down his shaft—with images of Severus standing tall against evil, of his dry wit, of his thrilling voice, of how _he_ felt in Severus' presence when they weren't at daggers-drawn.

Fighting to get the words out, Remus tugged at his bollocks and his cock, his hand never leaving the rune. He pushed all his power and his love for Severus into the carving, his skin tingling as his lower back tightened and his bollocks drew up. Biting his lip hard, Remus drew blood and reached up to swipe his fingers through it. Then he went back to bringing himself off. Once his orgasm wracked his body, he dampened his fingers with blood and semen and retraced the rune, this time whispering endearments that he one day hoped to say to Severus in the privacy of a comfortable bed: sweet, loving words that spoke of true love, and not a lustful pretence.

The rune flared so brightly Remus had to put up his hands. As he blinked away the spots before his eyes, he realized the rune was now weathered and faintly grey. Now he had to find the Grey Lady and solve this riddle once and for all. He looked down at his cock drooping between his flies and huffed out a tired laugh. "Yeah, better do myself up or I'll be doing nothing but answering questions on what an ol' wolf like me gets up to in the dark," he said to himself.

♦∞◊¤§¤◊∞♦ 

Severus stared at the two men across from him, on the other side of the table, and wanted to grind his teeth and snark and snipe, but he could picture himself and Lupin in their places—and that stopped him from upsetting either of them.

Salazar and Godric were playing Wizarding chess and sharing heated glances that everyone else ignored. Lady Helga sat doing Muggle needlepoint—the better to focus her magic, she said—and her consort, a knight by the name of Guillaume, whose red hair was suspiciously like those of the Weasleys he knew in the future, and whose blue eyes were just like Arthur's, passed a flagon of wine to Severus with a smile. Various other couples, including Robin Goodfellow and the fairy Ariel, were engaged in a round dance.

Suddenly, a grey form shimmered into being in the midst of the Great Hall with a Banshee's wail. Everyone turned, wands at the ready, lips forming spells before eyes truly saw that the form was a ghost. Godric stood with his sword out and advanced upon the spectre. The closer he got, the less threatening he appeared, until he finally sheathed his sword and dropped to one knee before the misty form. The others began murmuring to each other, but Severus only had eyes for the familiar ghost. He recognized the Grey Lady of Ravenclaw.

"...Snape." Severus blinked when he heard his name mentioned and paid closer attention to the conversation between Godric and the Grey Lady.

"Your will shall be done, Lady," Godric said softly. Severus internally fumed at missing what had been said earlier. He flinched when the ghost misted into existence a foot away from him, encasing his still drawn wand and hand.

"Wizard Snape, you are have surpassed the bounds of Time and Space." Her voice was rough, and had an accent Severus couldn't place. "The future is lessened by your absence."

Severus didn't know what to do so he just nodded sharply. The Grey Lady continued speaking. "I shall take your message to where it needs to be, but, you must mark the monster of the lake for me."

Before he spoke, Severus cast a surreptitious Muffliato around the two of them. "You mean what's left of Lady Rowena?" he asked in a low tone. 

"My child was...unruly, good wizard. She dabbled in darkness in the pursuit of knowledge and power. Better she was vanquished in fair battle than subsumed by that which she could not control in the end." The Grey Lady shook her head and gazed over Severus' shoulder. "Best left in the past." She waved one hand. "I shall do my best to aid you to your future. Your mate has done me a great service and I am here to repay a portion of my debt."

"Mate?" Severus repeated with a scowl. "What mate are you talking about?" He hastily sheathed his wand and crossed his arms defensively over his chest. "I have no mate. I've been fighting for my life since the day I was born, alone then and alone now."

"Sir Remus has broken a foul enchantment of my Rowena's. It is for him I have come to you." The Grey Lady smirked and folded her hands into her sleeves across her waist. "You know of what I speak. Wizard Snape, you of all of us must understand what it is to be freed to finally speak your mind and live as your heart has urged you all of your existence. I have come to share the gift of that freedom with you so that you may regain your future."

"Founders and House ghosts, elves and sprites and dryads... I'm fucking surrounded by myth and fantasy and now you're telling me Remus Lupin is my mate?" Severus threw his hands up in the air, drawing everyone's attention back to him and his conversation with the Grey Lady. He ignored them all since he knew they couldn't clearly hear a word he was shouting. "Madam, you are without a doubt a cruel figment of my fevered imagination. I'm lying somewhere dying, I have to be. You don't speak. No one has **ever** heard you speak! And to speak such half-arsed shite about me and Lupin is absurd!"

The Grey Lady looked over her shoulder and shared a rolling eye look with Salazar. Then she turned back to Severus. "Look you, you pompous and blinkered male, I've come to aid your escape from the past and yet another madman's machinations. Not for you, but for the love you bear your mate, and don't scoff at me, young man! I, as well as the other ghosts, know how you've looked after Sir Remus, with longing and hope, and not a dearth of lust, either. So, you'll accept my words, give me a message for the good man, and learn to open your heart to love or I'll have Robin Goodfellow blow the snot right out of you!"

Severus rocked back on his heels with a dazed look. He held up both hands and acknowledged defeat, although, not graciously. "Fine, fine, whatever the hell you want, I'll do it. I just want out of this madhouse."

With a snap of her fingers, a thick scroll of parchment appeared over the nearest table and hit it with a soft thud. "Write what I tell you," she commanded. A serviceable quill and a pot of Slytherin green ink appeared next to the scroll.

oOo

"Why is it I can't find a ghost when I need one?" Remus groused under his breath. For over half a day he'd been searching high and low for the Grey Lady. He'd come across Peeves, but the poltergeist merely cackled and threw eggs at him before departing for parts unknown. No child, no professor had seen any of the House ghosts since the day before and were just as surprised as Remus when he couldn't even call Nearly Headless Nick for a chat.

As he retraced his steps and crossed a courtyard toward Ravenclaw Tower, Remus slowed to a halt. Standing serene and proud, the Grey Lady had her back to him, head tilted to the side as she listened to what looked like someone dressed up as Shakespeare's Puck. With a lilting laugh, she reached out and patted the young man on the cheek just before he popped away.

"There's no Apparition on Hogwarts' grounds. How did he do that?" Remus asked aloud.

"Robin Goodfellow never paid any heed to man's nor wizard's rules." Remus swallowed hard when he realized the rough voice came from the Grey Lady.

"Oh, don't be obtuse! Of course I can speak. Although, you are correct in thinking that the rune you transformed was the key to allowing me to do so once again." The Grey Lady, usually an image of tragedy was laughing, at Remus' expense. "Do you think the castle would collect guardians if they couldn't communicate with the inhabitants? Oh, you Gryffindors all like to see what's there, don't you?" She reached out and patted at Remus' cheek, the chill of her ephemeral fingers making him shiver. "Poor dear. You remind me so much of young Godric. Before Salazar took him in hand."

"Wait? What?" Remus was bewildered and bemused. He blinked, shook his head to clear the fog of confusion, and tried to remember why he had to find the Grey Lady. "All that aside, for the moment, what do you know about the lady in the lake?" he finally blurted out in relief.

"My child." At Remus' dazed look, she elaborated. "My child, Rowena. She attempted to wrest Wizard Snape from the castle, and to take that which was his alone to bestow." The Grey Lady's eyes narrowed. "She had always been an overreaching wench, but I loved her. I knew her greed for knowledge and power would drive her to the brink, but I hoped she would remember her training and my words of wisdom." She turned away with a sigh. "But she coveted Wizard Snape for another bed partner. He refused her, and a duel was fought. Good Wizard Snape was remarkably cool and collected, and quite powerful. Rowena underestimated him and his power and lost."

"So? She lost. How did she go from being the Founder with intellect and cool consideration to the Giant Squid?" 

Remus sank down on a stone bench as the Grey Lady paced back and forth, telling the story. "Rowena was surprised, a thing that hadn't happened to her since her entrance into the world. She attempted a blackguardly trick and was caught. Her punishment was to turn her into a beast, within sight of Hogwarts but forever apart until she learned her lesson, whatever that may be. In order to do so, someone must ask her this question: _Rowena Ravenclaw, daughter of Cliodna, do you seek the light?_ "

Remus latched onto one word. "You're Cliodna? As in the Celtic goddess of the sea and the afterlife?" Remus' eyes were huge with wonder.

"Yes, yes, a long time ago. I brought Rowena with me when I escaped from the faery realm in the hopes that the mortal world would be as good to her as it had been to me." The Grey Lady seemed to gain a bit of colour, her hair flashing red, her cheeks pink, and her eyes blue, then she was once more a translucent ghost. "We of the Fae, even one half-Fae as my Rowena, can learn and grow. I have come to know more about life being dead than in all the centuries I walked this Earth and the faery lands. But, I cannot free my darling girl from a trap of her own making. I need you to show her the lock, so that she may provide her own key."

Slapping his hands on his thighs, Remus stood up, once more determined to solve the riddle. "What tithe do I need to give her so that I can communicate with her?"

"One that I know for a fact you have used before." The Grey Lady's eyes fell to Remus' groin and he blushed. "The fact you are a child of the other Founders coupled with your living essence will be enough to bring her close. By calling out to her in the old words..." She reached out and then pushed her hand into Remus' chest and pulled it out quickly, leaving him gasping at the sensation and at the sudden _ancient_ knowledge in his mind. "Those words will allow her to speak so you might understand. Then ask the question. For her own good or ill, you will have done what you were meant to do."

"I must go and tend to my charges, Sir Remus. This latest war has taken so much." The Grey Lady, Cliodna, curtseyed and for a flash, Remus saw the Fae lady as she had been, blushing cheeks and rosy lips. "I thank you again for freeing my tongue. I shall hope to thank you for setting my child free as well." She began to fade away but then became more opaque as she whispered, "Beware the strange spectre within Hogwarts, Sir Remus. He means you ill. Now, hurry!"

Remus looked around, a prickling feeling crawling over his back as soon as the Grey Lady had disappeared. Shaking it off, he turned on his heel and headed toward the Black Lake. "Merlin's bollocks!" he muttered. "I haven't wanked this much since I was a boy."

He didn't see Gellert's face as it materialized next a gargoyle's.

oOo

Remus approached the Black Lake slowly. He stepped onto the dock and strode toward the end, wand out and ready. The water was still. That is, until the mysterious spectre erupted out of it with a shriek, mouth open in a rising screech. The Giant Squid was right behind it, tentacles waving and grasping. The spectre whirled in the air above the creature and slapped its hands together; waves appeared out of nowhere and swamped the Giant Squid before a tentacle blindly passed through the ectoplasmic form and it dissipated like fog in the sunshine.

"Merlin," Remus breathed out, "I'm in the middle of a bloody fairy tale." The tentacle that dispersed the ghost looked odd and the Giant Squid was swimming in a spiral, moving back toward the centre of the lake, slowly. "Must've gotten—" he cut himself off and began reciting the ancient words the Grey Lady had given him.

The Giant Squid spun in the water as if searching for something and as the words kept coming, honed in on Remus standing on the dock. It swam closer, the hurt tentacle crooked in the air. When the words stopped filling his mouth, Remus took pity on the beast and sent a general healing spell at the tentacle. There was a sudden vacuum and the air and water rushed to fill it. Remus was stunned until a woman spoke behind him.

"A child of the Others, hm?" the woman said. "What I wouldn't have done to have you all those years ago..." Her voice was low and sensuous, with just a hint of roughness.

Remus whirled around and into a defensive crouch to behold what could only be Rowena Ravenclaw herself. She was dressed in worn but serviceable duelling robes, the metal studs holding the leather on tarnished and rusted. Her hair was streaked with grey and green and there seemed to be algae at her hairline. She smelled fishy, too, but Remus put that down to centuries in the Black Lake.

"I was called Rowena of the Raven's Claw, or Rowena Ravenclaw once I became a part of the mortal realm." The Founder crossed her arms and stood waiting for Remus to say something. "Well? You've got me here. This form won't last for very much longer."

He took a deep breath and asked the question: "Rowena Ravenclaw, daughter of Cliodna, do you seek the light?" 

Rowena took in a deep breath through her nose, face impassive as seconds ticked by. She let it out in a huffing laugh. "Oh, gods of my fathers, yes, a thousand times yes," she said in a lilting voice. Suddenly her duelling robes were gone, replaced by dark robes of velvet and fur. Her hair was piled up on her head and a diadem of some dark metal held it in place. She still had a greenish cast to her skin, but she was smiling. She raised her hand and another Giant Squid was swimming in the Black Lake.

"So?" Remus asked with a puzzled frown. "That's it? You're free and there's a new creature here?"

"You are very much Godric's kin," Rowena said with a laugh. "You are one step closer to bringing your heart's desire home. With each act of love, you strengthen the bridge between you." She glanced at his waist and raised her eyebrows. "Speaking of which, you'd best anoint my replacement or he'll disappear in a day. Only I and Helga and the two lovers can bring a protector into these waters. You have their essences, you must do your part." Her lips spread in a lascivious smirk. "I'd say I could help you, but I've given up on taking such power into myself. It's better to consider what the possible outcomes are instead of rushing headlong at the unknown of them." She turned away from him and began walking toward the castle. "Give my love to Severus, and tell him that I hold no ill will toward him, will you?" she called over her shoulder. "He was, is, a fine duellist, and a better man than many I've known." Between one step and the next, she was gone, a delighted laugh blowing away on the evening breeze.

Remus looked around, and then at the new Giant Squid. If he hadn't seen it for his own eyes, he couldn't have said if there was a difference between it and Rowena's old form. The tentacles waving in the air, the giant eye blinking at him, all of it seemed familiar, and yet, there was something almost innocent about the creature. He bit his lip and cast a cloaking and silencing charm on himself. "Best not traumatize the kiddies with the sight of me wanking into the lake," he sighed.

It was the work of a few minutes to get hard, thoughts of how Severus might greet his saviour, how that long lean body might wrap itself around Remus' and even undulate against his, with abandon, and delight... Remus was grunting and moaning softly as he spun fantasy after fantasy until he spent himself into the water of the Black Lake. Leaning against one of the dock's posts, Remus watched his spunk sink into the depths and then saw the water begin to boil up and foam around the latest Giant Squid. The beast seemed to shimmer and then took on a bluish-red cast, different from blackish-green Rowena's colouring. The water cleared and seemed less impenetrable near the shore.

"Two down, one to go. Oh, Severus, I hope you understand how much I wish I was sharing this," Remus petted his cock gingerly—it was still sensitive—as he put it away and buttoned himself up, "with you."

♦∞◊¤§¤◊∞♦ 

"Severus, you must eat!"

"I'm sick and tired of this place!" Severus shouted back. He continued pacing to and fro, fuming. "You say Lupin's solved two of the riddles, but I'm no closer to going back to my own time."

Robin Goodfellow shared a look with Salazar and both shook their heads. Ariel stepped out of the now-healed rowan in the Great Hall and approached Severus. When he passed close enough, she reached out and snagged his arm. "Good wizard, would you walk with me?" she asked in a soft voice. Narrowing his eyes at Robin and Salazar, Severus gave a curt nod and crooked his arm. Ariel took it and they passed through from the Great Hall to the entryway. 

"Take me to your favourite place, Severus, so that we may talk in peace." Ariel tripped along at Severus' side and slowly he grew less anger and more resigned.

"I am sorry I was so brusque, Lady Ariel." Severus kept his eyes forward as he apologized. "I have come to realize there is more for me than what I once thought, but I can't appreciate it from here."

Ariel laughed and patted Severus' forearm. They stopped in a small enclosed garden at the base of Gryffindor Tower, full of weeping willows and mallow plants and a still pond. Severus glanced down and saw the trout in the pond gliding back and forth, ignoring the rest of the world. He started when Ariel pinched his arm.

"The others cannot tell you, but I may, Severus," Ariel began.

"Tell me what?" 

"My rowan grows in the Great Hall of the future. Your mate is a fine figure of a wizard and a most thoughtful son of Helga, Salazar and Godric." At Severus' disbelieving look, the fairy smiled. "Yes, you chose well, you a son of Rowena. Betwixt you there are all the lines of power necessary to lead this castle to even greater good." She sank down in a graceful curtsey. "My lord wizard."

"Oh, up, up, you silly girl," Severus muttered as he held out a hand to raise Ariel to her feet. "I don't know if I believe I'm related to the witch who'd been lusting after my body, but that's neither here nor there. I just want to go home, to find out if Lupin really does care for me and not some ideal."

"Would you like to give him a message, Severus?" Ariel brushed a hand down her short tunic and a large leaf coalesced under it. She held it up. "I may give him your hope to speed his efforts, if you so choose..." Her voice trailed off suggestively. Severus didn't fight it; he took the bait.

"Can I use my wand to write a message?" At Ariel's delighted nod, Severus bit his lip and began composing in his head.

**Continued in Part Five**

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_~~~ Comments, like rain in the desert, are greatly appreciated.  
Thank you for reading. ~~~_  



	5. And Now for a Denoument Most Devotely Desired

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> And now comes the time for past slights to be forgiven and for all good wizards to find their happiness.

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**  
_ Disclaimer:_   
** The world of Harry Potter, its characters and settings are the copyrighted works of J.K. Rowling, Warner Bros., her publishing companies and affiliates. No profit was made from the writing of this story nor was any malice intended in any way, shape or form to the author or the actors/actresses who so brilliantly have brought them to life.

This author is not responsible for underage readers. Please observe the ratings, warnings, and age of legal consent for your country.

oOo

Something roared. And fire was spewed.

"Run faster, Harry!" Remus shouted. Their brooms were yards away, on the other side of the fallen walls of this nameless tower. The old flagstone floor beneath their feet heaved and shook as whatever it was behind them gained ground. "Faster, faster!"

The two wizards broke out into the sunny day and grabbed their brooms, Harry's trusty Firebolt and Remus Severus' Comet, the one he used when he was a replacement Quidditch referee. They took off just as a thin, steaming snout poked out of the ruined wall and withdrew after a shooting out a gout of flame.

"Who knew there really was a dragon inside Hogwarts?" Harry gasped out.

Remus ignored the young man and pulled out a trio of vials with something whitish and thick inside. He hovered over the opening, waiting for the dragon to show itself again. When the snout reappeared, Remus threw the vials at it. They were snapped out of the air as if by a Seeker capturing a Snitch. "I hope that's effective," he whispered tiredly.

"You're not going to tell me why we've dug up a dragon and been lobbing gooey gunk at it for two days, are you?" Harry asked with a laugh. "I mean, don't get me wrong, it's better than rebuilding work any day, but why didn't we just get the dragonkeepers in and have them take the thing away?" Harry lazily flew loop-the-loops over Remus' head as he waited for an answer. "I mean, it's not a sleeping dragon anymore, right?"

"Sometimes you say the most profound things, Harry." Scrubbing his face with one hand as he watched the break in the wall, Remus chuckled. "As to what I'm 'lobbing' at the dragon, you wouldn't believe me if I told you what was in those vials, but this should solve the last of the three riddles and bring Headmaster Snape back to us." A soft _whumpf_ and several loose stones fell from the ruined wall.

"Do you think that's done it?" Harry flew lower, halting when Remus hissed at him.

"Harry Potter, get your broom back up here! We can't know if the thing's gone or not without some surveillance spells." Suiting actions to necessity, Remus cast the spells while Harry fidgeted on his broom. Within ten minutes, the spells gave an all-clear and Remus and Harry landed once more.

"Keep a sharp eye out, Harry. This was almost too easy." Remus pulled out his wand and strode forward carefully, skirting loose stones and debris. Harry followed along. Remus conjured Blue Bell Flames to guide their search; there was no sign of the dragon they'd woken, but there was a shimmering sapphire, the size of a man's fist in a pearlescent matrix. Remus poked at it with his wand, making Harry laugh.

"Oi, Remus! Is that a wand or a stick?" Remus blushed and mumbled something under his breath that turned the air blue around him before pocketing the gem.

Remus put his wand away with a scowl. "What now? What to do now?" He looked around as trying to find some sign that this was the key to bringing Severus Snape back to the future, but there was nothing. Harry channelled his not-inconsiderable power into a blinding Lumos to illuminate the area, but there was no dragon, and nothing but what Remus had put in his pocket.

oOo

"Mr. Lupin, have you solved the riddles?" Madam Pince asked at a late supper. The students that had remained at Hogwarts for the rebuilding and any volunteers on-site were scattered amongst the House tables, eating, reading, or just socializing. Remus was at the High Table with Professor McGonagall and Madam Pince, sighing and pushing around the food on his plate.

"Yes, it's all solved," he said in a tired voice. "But nothing's happened."

"That's because you need Severus' bit." Albus Dumbledore's voice boomed out of the painting over the Gryffindor table. Remus sat up and jumped out of his chair, flying over the two steps to the High Table to run to the painting.

"Albus," Remus breathed out. Everyone in the hall stopped whatever they were doing and turned to see what was happening. "Do you know...?

"Severus sent you a message, Remus." Albus' portrait self reached into his robes and pulled out an abnormally large leaf. He pushed it toward the edge of the painting and, amazingly, it pushed through to fall into the lap of Harry Potter. Harry didn't pause and sent it straight to Remus' waiting hands. "That should help you bring our young man back where he belongs."

"You conniver!" The mysterious spectre was back, bringing a chill to the air and causing plates to explode and glasses to tip over. The fires in the grates all went out, except for the two salamanders in the Gryffindor fireplace. "You are working against me yet again, Albus!"

"Gellert, enough is enough. You are not the great dark lord you thought you were, and you cannot dictate when the Dark shall overcome the Light." Albus looked sad as he smiled toward the spectre. "My love, let it go, let the anger and the sorrow go, and come be my love." Albus held out his hand.

Remus took the chance and looked over the leaf, smiling when he saw Severus' familiar scrawl. He chuckled a bit at the words, but stood taller and seemed more solid when he got to the end and slid the leaf gently into his robe pocket. 

"You are trespassing in my children's home," a rough woman's voice said. The Grey Lady glided over the floor to stand at Remus' side. "You cannot keep this farce going any longer, young wizard. These children have a right to the future they fought and died for."

Gellert spun in the air and bore down on the Grey Lady with a maniacal laugh that gurgled to a stop when the rowan tree's limbs lashed out and caught him. He went tumbling through the air, arse over heels, much to the delight of the students. "Hogwarts is not your plaything, Gellert Grindelwald. Haven't you learned that your small darkness cannot overcome the greater light here?" 

The Grey Lady raised her arms and suddenly there were more ghosts than Remus had ever imagined seeing. They stepped through the walls, out of portraits and suits of armour, even rose mistily up through the floor. Every one of them smiled and nodded politely to the people in the Great Hall and then turned their attentions onto Gellert's wavering form. The chill in the air wasn't menacing; it was protective.

The Grey Lady turned to Remus and curtseyed low, as if before royalty. "What is your wish, your lordship?" The other ghosts fell to a knee or curtseyed or did some kind of obeisance until only Gellert was looking lost. Even Albus inclined his head in Remus' direction, mouthing, "You always were special."

"My lady, assembled ghosts and spirits, this interloper has attempted to overtake us with dark magic and a dark future. I deem him a threat and wish him removed." The ghosts surged up and surrounded Gellert, with the people in the hall cheering and urging them on. One by one, and there were many, they each stripped away a bit of Gellert's darkness until all that was left was a stripling ghost shivering in the air.

"Albus?" a young voice asked. "Albus, what's happened, Liebchen?"

Albus' younger self materialized before Gellert and grabbed his hands. "Thank you, Remus, oh, thank you so much." He led Gellert away through an outside wall and it was silent in the Great Hall. Then, someone whooped and another being huzzahed, and soon Weasley Wizarding Wheeze fireworks were exploding against the high ceiling, and cakes were appearing on the tables.

Remus took a deep breath and felt something loosen inside. A ripple of awed silence spread out from the rowan as a figure stepped out of it, a long, lanky, dark figure that made Remus' eyes fill with tears.

oOo

Severus looked around at the hall, marvelling that so much had changed since he'd been gone, but when Remus Lupin pushed his way through the celebrating crowd and wrapped his hands over Severus' shoulders with a grin, Severus smiled.

"It's good to be home," he shouted.

"It's so good to see you, Severus." Remus held Severus' shoulders and pulled the man closer. "We've got a lot to talk about, but there are some people who want to welcome you back now. Come find me at ten o'clock. My old rooms in Gryffindor Tower." Remus grinned at Severus' bemused look and then faded into the milling bodies.

Robin Goodfellow appeared above the crowd, a flurry of small fairies flitting throughout the hall. "'Tis good to see thy scowling visage, Sir Snape!" he yelled out. "My Ariel sends her love and says that her rowan will ever be at thou beck and call." Robin looked around and saw the bright eyes of the students looking his way. "Now, who wants to see something magical?" he called out. The students and some ghosts crowded around Robin, freeing Severus to make his way to the High Table and Minerva's side.

"I see you survived your vacation," she said with a quirked eyebrow.

"You are the spitting image of one of your ancestors, Minerva. She too had a dry sense of humour." The two of them chuckled and sat down.

"Headmaster Snape, it's good to see you back where you belong," Madam Pince said.

"It is actually quite good to be here." Severus looked around and then leaned toward his Assistant Headmistress. "For as long as I'm allowed, yes?"

"I don't think there'll be a problem, Severus. Harry an' Remus have cleared yer name, mon. It's all over but for the paperwork." Minerva calmly sipped her tea as Severus looked over the hall. He realized there weren't as many darkling looks being cast his way as he'd thought to have. There were even people waving and smiling at him.

"I am shocked. I think." He sat back and just watched for several more minutes before standing up. "No matter what anyone one tells you, time travel is time consuming. I'm off to settle into a long summer's nap. Good night, Minerva. Good night, Madam Pince. Good night, everyone."

Severus stepped off the dais, and wasn't ten feet away before he heard Sybill Trelawney's words. "I see a darkness about that man. He's going to come to bad end."

His steps faltered and then Madam Pince's voice cut across the pain. "Shut it, Sybill. He's going to come to a good end now that things are looking up, and you'd do well to remember that. I mean, really, he's a direct descendent of Rowena Ravenclaw and..." Severus didn't wait to hear the rest of her words. He had someplace to be, and something to do that he'd never thought possible.

oOo

Severus knocked on Remus' door. _I can call him Remus now, without fear,_ he thought to himself as he waited. The door opened on his second rat-a-tat.

"Lupin, I just wanted t—" His words were cut off when Remus reached out and dragged Severus into the room, slamming the door behind him. Lips! There were lips on Severus', warm and firm and oh-so-wicked. Severus wrapped his arms around Remus' shoulders and held on as the kiss played out.

Remus pulled away with a soft whine, drawing a deep breath that pushed his chest into Severus'. "I've been waiting to do that for ages, Severus." Remus put up his left hand and cupped the side of Severus' face, his broad thumb rubbing back and forth over Severus' cheek bone. "Merlin, I've missed you."

Severus licked his lips and leaned forward to speak against Remus' lips. "Likewise, I'm sure. If it weren't for a ghost with delusions of grandeur and your barmy forebearers, I don't think I'd be here now." When Remus made to pull away, Severus held his head still. "You misunderstand me, I didn't say I didn't want to be here now...or later." Severus let his head fall forward and initiated another kiss, this one segueing into something with tongue and gasping. It was a while before the two men pulled apart to drag in gulps of air.

"Oh, Severus, you always were full of surprises. C'mon, come sit down and have some tea and biscuits. I'll wager you just want some quiet, yeah?" The words tumbled past Remus' lips, he was so nervous.

"Lupin, Remus, I've spent over a year..." Severus held up a hand when Remus opened his mouth. "Let me finish. I've spent over a year with Salazar Slytherin and Godric Gryffindor making googly eyes at each other and shagging over everything that didn't move, and some things that did, and I can honestly say I don't want peace and quiet, and I don't want alone time." Severus pulled his wand out and ran the tip up the fastenings of Remus' robes. They opened with a series of snaps. "I want noise and sweat and all that attention to detail you have in you."

Remus began unbuttoning Severus' robes until the other wizard put his wand to the hem and the robes were gone, reappearing in a folded pile on the floor, his boots and socks next to it. "Now, isn't that better?" Severus purred. Remus nodded enthusiastically and tore off his own clothes, haphazardly folding them until he was as bare as Severus. "Now, show me how you solved those riddles?" Severus said with a smirk. 

Remus sat down on the settee with a thump as Severus tossed his wand onto the pile of clothes. Remus enveloped him in a heated embrace and tugged him up and over to straddle his hips. Severus writhed and moaned as Remus kissed and fondled and carefully touched him, gently stroking over his cock, their cocks, urging him higher and higher toward the peak. 

"I want you, Remus," Severus gasped against his lover's lips. "Deep, deep inside."

"Severus? Truly?" Remus was stunned, but game. He looked toward the dresser and a tub of lube fell off and rolled across the floor until he could reach down and grab it. "We're not going too fast?"

"Lupin, I've had about all I can handle of caution and fear. I want to be loved and fucked, not necessarily in that order, and I choose you as the man to do it." Severus looked down his nose. "You are man enough, aren't you?"

Remus took that as a personal challenge and had Severus shivering and begging as he readied him. Strong hands held him poised over Remus' cock as he let gravity pull the man down with excruciating slowness until he'd engulfed Remus' cock completely. There was a popping sound, but neither one noticed the flare of magic around them. They only had eyes and hands for each other.

oOo

"Morning."

"Nguh...water..."

"Not a morning person, Remus?"

"Don't tell me you're disgustingly chipper in the morning? That's just wrong."

Severus laughed softly and rubbed his body cat-like up and down Remus' side, letting him feel how _awake_ all of him was. Remus turned over and soon Severus was right where he wanted to be, snug and warm and feeling Remus' cock pushing between the apex of his thighs and nudging the back of his bollocks.

"Who knew you could be so...so consid— _oh, yes!_...so considerate, Remus," Severus gasped out as Remus see-sawed back and forth.

Remus growled and bit Severus' neck where it meets his shoulder. "I'll always take care of you, Severus, always." He put a hand on Severus' morning wood and a wordless spell had it slipping and sliding up and down as he stroked. "So, ready for some more sound and fury, love?"

"Oh, yes, Remus, lay on, lay on, oh, fucking lay on!"

♦∞◊¤§¤◊∞♦ 

Salazar stared at the rowan tree in the middle of the Great Hall. It had stood for a hundred years, sheltering students and being a home to their very own faery lovers. He turned his head when Godric put his arms around him and pulled him to his chest.

"We gave him a future, my shield-arm." 

"Aye, we did, my helpmeet. An' if he is an example of the children we help here, we have done more for the world than I ever hoped." Godric nudged Salazar's cheek with his chin until he turned so they could kiss awkwardly.

A bright laugh interrupted them. "Oh, ye mortals, always cooing like doves." Robin Goodfellow lay on his side in mid-air, head on his hand.

"Says the sprite that's been caught bussing his fair maid in every corner of the castle," Godric shot back.

"Ah, well, mon, I've learnt from the best, being ye and yer kin in the future. I find myself happier to kiss and cuddle than to prank and jeer. What say ye?"

Salazar laughed out loud. "Oh, aye, it's a fine way to grow old, good faery, a fine way." Godric's booming laugh joined his and the very air of Hogwarts brightened.

_~~~ Fin ~~~_

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_~~~ Comments, like rain in the desert, are greatly appreciated.  
Thank you for reading. ~~~_  


**Author's Note:**

>  **Secondary Characters:** Harry Potter, Madam Pince, The Founders, Robin Goodfellow, Ariel, the Giant Squid  
>  **Other Pairings:** ghost!Albus Dumbledore/ghost!Gellert Grindelwald, Salazar Slytherin/Godric Gryffindor, Helga Hufflepuff/other, Rowena Ravenclaw/many  
>  **HP Era:** Alternate Universe, Post Second Voldemort War, No Remus/Tonks per se


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